Long Time Gone Update
June 27, 2010
Yarg!!! Its been a while. I should write more often, but life has been crazy as of late. May was good; it was the same old stuff, but good. Early May we had a training on how to facilitate the Visions and Values training. That was fun. Then Robin and I went to Darjeeling to do some trekking which turned out to be a big adventure. I'll talk about that now.
We went by bus which was alright. It however started out with a bit of a jolt. I was just about to fall asleep when I felt some wide projections come through the seat and tickle my bum, and then again. Having had men try and touch me inappropriately while sleeping on busses is well known by me, so you can see how logical my reaction was. I was IRRATE!!! I quickly grabbed the projections and twisted. Well at the same time I heard the lady behind me yelp and I turned to scowl at the jerk that was trying to touch me. However, when I turned around the man was sleeping and the woman had her feet up...up and poking through my seat....oppps. Its actually pretty funny now. Anyway, it took us about 17hours total to get to Darjeeling from Bogra. The last 3 were spent in a jeep and there was about a 4 hour wait at the boarder. We got a hotel and looked around. I wanted to get some cash from the ATM but it was late and we decided its not safe to get cash at night. The next morning the “fun” happened. There was an assassination of a high ranking party official. It was near one of the places we thought we might go for breakfast. Luckily we didn't go there or we would have met with 40 men carrying machetes. However, after that Darjeeling was closed!!! Literally...everything. No ATMs no tourist information no restaurants; nothing was open. We needed to arrange things for our trek but nothing was open and even if it were, we didn't have any money to pay with. So, we left with a group of people headed to Sikkim (the state north of West Bengal). There were ATMs open there. However we had to travel to a town that was about 2 hours out of the way b/c Sikkim requires a permit to enter. (You can get the permit in Darjeeling...when things are open.) We had no money to pay our room bill so the hotel just let us leave on the premise that we would come back through and pay then. (which we of course did!) It is now September 22nd and I am finally getting around to finish this blog!!!! Robin went to arrange for us to stay at a farm in Chamrong near Jorthang while I pack everything up. We went down to the jeep stand, hired a van and were off to Rangpo to get our permit. I was the lucky one that got to sit in the middle of the front seat and straddle the gear shift. Second gear was not my favourite as it meant that the driver must cross the line into my “private square” (it's not my terminology, but it works). Despite one stop for an overheating engine and one for a blown tire we arrived in time to get our permits. However, Robin and I missed all the taxi's to Jorthang. Angered a bit by the unaccommodating taxi stand personnel- one of which told us it was too far to walk to Jorthang. “Thank-you very much. I normally ask people at the taxi stand how long it takes to WALK places.” Anyway, we had to call the farm and tell them we would not arrive until tomorrow. The phone in the telecom shop did not work so a nice gentleman let us use his cell phone. We tired to pay him for the usage but he would not allow it. Having over-heard our predicament he also offered to drive us to Jorthang and put us up for the night; it was too dark to make it to the farm. While at his apartment all interaction went through his female housemate. The fed us dinner, tea, breakfast and another tea before taking us to the jeep stand and helping us get on the correct jeep. They never asked for anything, no money, no photo, nothing. It was amazing. I don't even know his name; her's was Sabina.
The home-stay at the farm was great!! It was so relaxing and peaceful. The owner was sweet and her adopted daughter loved having visitors. The food was fantastic too. There was this cheese curry that was to die for and on evening Robin and I helped to make the noodles for our soup dinner. On the last day we finally got a great cloud free view of the mountains and it was breathtaking!!! Such beautifully created earth leaves me speechless. From the farm we went to Pelling and stayed there one night. The night in Pelling Robin and I opted for the traditional Sikkimese meal. It started with a warm local millet beer. I wasn't all that fond of it as it tasted like what corn silage would taste like if you poured warm water over it. Man did it pack a punch though! It warmed me up after about 2 sips. Anyway the rest of the meal was a stout soup and momos. Yummy!!! The next morning we visited a monastery and some ruins of Sikkim's days of monarchy. From there we went to Yuksum. It is in a valley and has some wonderful hiking around it. There had been a lot of rain the previous days and so some of the hikes were a bit tough. Day one, we encountered an avalanche. I learned that day that you never go over an avalanche. It was scary and I cried a bit because I had to walk under a very large tree stump and roots clump. After we finally made it across, there was yet another avalanche that blocked our path, only this time there was another path. This path was a local path and was steep, but luckily there was a woman and her daughter collecting fire wood. Despite the fact that she knew no English whatsoever and there are only a few words that are the same in Bangla and Nepali, she was unthwarted by the difficulties in communication. I was very grateful for her persistence.
The next day we did a hike to a mountain top lake. It was a long and difficult trek. We might have gotten lost on the way there if not for a friendly lone hiker we picked up. He knew Nepali. It was a 4 hour hike there and we had planned to take a jeep back, but rain the day before made the roads impassible. We ate a quick lunch, looked at the lake and headed back. Our friend decided to stay at the lake for the evening, and so Robin and I got really lost. Where is Lena when you need her?? So, Robin and I stumbled onto a local path that dropped us almost straight down the side of a mountain. It was so steep at one point that I had to sit down and slide, lest I fall over. But as it was turning out the whole trip was full of unplanned paths that led to outcome that were better than expected. This unplanned path led us not 200m from a beautiful waterfall. The next days we spent on shorter walks, reading, or drinking tea.
On the day we wanted to return to Darjeeling there was a strike so we spent one more day in Yuksom and then onto Darjeeling. It was a completely different city when it was open. There were stores open and it was cool. My favourite place was called....ummm oh dear I can't remember....but it served me up a porcine feast for breakfast. I ate the leftovers on the bus home for both dinner and supper.
Ok, so now I will try and remember what happened the rest of May through September...yikes.
May:
was grumpy...it was hot
June:
finished all three Bangla ag ed movies and debuted them!
My birthday party
went to spa for last time
last monthly meeting
Oh oh. We had our Visions and Values training and that went really well. I was very pleased.
had bollywood make-up happy fun farewell party for Iris, Ben, Robin, Joyce and I
July
farewell Bangladesh :-(
Iris came with me to Sri Lanka. We saw great sites like P&A, House of Fashions, Deep and Bella. Nina and Jonas were also visiting so we went to a cello concert Nina played in. We also took a bus to Trinco. There is no A/C bus to Trinco; its just an ordinary packed to the brim bus. Iris learned the hard way why I think Bangladesh inter-city buses are nice. Hee hee. It was bad when she got whacked in the head with a few bags. It was a pretty uneventful trip minus the fact that just outside of Kurunegala (grimace grimace) we saw a man that had hung himself. It was not good; the image is still in my brain. Other than that it was a good ride. The beach was fantastic!! We saw 10 other people at most. We body boarded on some great waves and ate lots of Sri Lankan beach fare. I also introduced Iris to arrak and coke. It was magical!!! After that we went back to Colombo and stayed with Dorothy and Prabo. Iris left and I stayed another week. During that time I went to Madampe; visited Shiloni and family, Navin, and Peshala; and read books. It was nice. It was sad to leave Sri Lanka again but it seems to be getting easier each time.
Next I went to the UK. Nigel picked me up from the airport and it spent time with the Rachel and Nigel. We visited a stately home (Bently House...where they filmed the British version of Pride and Prejudice!). One day Rachel and I went to a spa that was also nice, but mostly I just enjoyed hanging out with them. From there I took a train down passed London to a place called Sutton where my friends Jonas and Nina live. While there I got to visit with some other friends, Abigail and Ben and Shiyani. It was fun-tastic
Got home!!! Jill Dad and Janae met me at the airport and we took the South Shores line to South Bend and then drove home...it was a good way to get home, because we missed all the traffic. We got home at about 11:30pm and I got up and left the next morning at 4:30am to go to the state fair.
I worked at the state fair. It was fun! My sister also worked and so I just stayed with her and her family for those two weeks. I was also able to visit my friend Chris.
August:
Cattle training
moving Janelle, Chris and Sammy
grinding feed
job searching
applying for jobs
September
The FAIR!! It was district 10 show at Fulton County this year and that brings in some cool farmers that I like to converse with. I also got to show with my nephew Lane who is 2 ½. It was a bit harder that I thought. One hand was holding onto the calf the other to Lane. Man was my arm tired!!! It was a great fair.
Got hit on by scary carnie.
Now I am planning a trip to World Dairy Expo. My dad has never gone and our neighbours the Mellers asked if he and mom wanted to go. I think my dad feels bad for taking vacations, so I made the decision that he would go. So it will be me, my parents and our neighbours in a Caddy to Wisconsin. I'll also meet up with my friend Beth! I am pretty excited.
Currently I am at my friend Deb's in North Carolina. She was up in Ohio visiting her sister Michelle who had some problems in he cancer treatment and was in the hospital. I also went to visit Michelle with my sister Janelle and then stayed and came back to NC with Deb. Deb's brother is down in South Carolina for a race and will go back to Columbus at the end of the week and I will hitch a ride back with him.
Ok, consider yourself updated
Peace
jodi
Yarg!!! Its been a while. I should write more often, but life has been crazy as of late. May was good; it was the same old stuff, but good. Early May we had a training on how to facilitate the Visions and Values training. That was fun. Then Robin and I went to Darjeeling to do some trekking which turned out to be a big adventure. I'll talk about that now.
We went by bus which was alright. It however started out with a bit of a jolt. I was just about to fall asleep when I felt some wide projections come through the seat and tickle my bum, and then again. Having had men try and touch me inappropriately while sleeping on busses is well known by me, so you can see how logical my reaction was. I was IRRATE!!! I quickly grabbed the projections and twisted. Well at the same time I heard the lady behind me yelp and I turned to scowl at the jerk that was trying to touch me. However, when I turned around the man was sleeping and the woman had her feet up...up and poking through my seat....oppps. Its actually pretty funny now. Anyway, it took us about 17hours total to get to Darjeeling from Bogra. The last 3 were spent in a jeep and there was about a 4 hour wait at the boarder. We got a hotel and looked around. I wanted to get some cash from the ATM but it was late and we decided its not safe to get cash at night. The next morning the “fun” happened. There was an assassination of a high ranking party official. It was near one of the places we thought we might go for breakfast. Luckily we didn't go there or we would have met with 40 men carrying machetes. However, after that Darjeeling was closed!!! Literally...everything. No ATMs no tourist information no restaurants; nothing was open. We needed to arrange things for our trek but nothing was open and even if it were, we didn't have any money to pay with. So, we left with a group of people headed to Sikkim (the state north of West Bengal). There were ATMs open there. However we had to travel to a town that was about 2 hours out of the way b/c Sikkim requires a permit to enter. (You can get the permit in Darjeeling...when things are open.) We had no money to pay our room bill so the hotel just let us leave on the premise that we would come back through and pay then. (which we of course did!) It is now September 22nd and I am finally getting around to finish this blog!!!! Robin went to arrange for us to stay at a farm in Chamrong near Jorthang while I pack everything up. We went down to the jeep stand, hired a van and were off to Rangpo to get our permit. I was the lucky one that got to sit in the middle of the front seat and straddle the gear shift. Second gear was not my favourite as it meant that the driver must cross the line into my “private square” (it's not my terminology, but it works). Despite one stop for an overheating engine and one for a blown tire we arrived in time to get our permits. However, Robin and I missed all the taxi's to Jorthang. Angered a bit by the unaccommodating taxi stand personnel- one of which told us it was too far to walk to Jorthang. “Thank-you very much. I normally ask people at the taxi stand how long it takes to WALK places.” Anyway, we had to call the farm and tell them we would not arrive until tomorrow. The phone in the telecom shop did not work so a nice gentleman let us use his cell phone. We tired to pay him for the usage but he would not allow it. Having over-heard our predicament he also offered to drive us to Jorthang and put us up for the night; it was too dark to make it to the farm. While at his apartment all interaction went through his female housemate. The fed us dinner, tea, breakfast and another tea before taking us to the jeep stand and helping us get on the correct jeep. They never asked for anything, no money, no photo, nothing. It was amazing. I don't even know his name; her's was Sabina.
The home-stay at the farm was great!! It was so relaxing and peaceful. The owner was sweet and her adopted daughter loved having visitors. The food was fantastic too. There was this cheese curry that was to die for and on evening Robin and I helped to make the noodles for our soup dinner. On the last day we finally got a great cloud free view of the mountains and it was breathtaking!!! Such beautifully created earth leaves me speechless. From the farm we went to Pelling and stayed there one night. The night in Pelling Robin and I opted for the traditional Sikkimese meal. It started with a warm local millet beer. I wasn't all that fond of it as it tasted like what corn silage would taste like if you poured warm water over it. Man did it pack a punch though! It warmed me up after about 2 sips. Anyway the rest of the meal was a stout soup and momos. Yummy!!! The next morning we visited a monastery and some ruins of Sikkim's days of monarchy. From there we went to Yuksum. It is in a valley and has some wonderful hiking around it. There had been a lot of rain the previous days and so some of the hikes were a bit tough. Day one, we encountered an avalanche. I learned that day that you never go over an avalanche. It was scary and I cried a bit because I had to walk under a very large tree stump and roots clump. After we finally made it across, there was yet another avalanche that blocked our path, only this time there was another path. This path was a local path and was steep, but luckily there was a woman and her daughter collecting fire wood. Despite the fact that she knew no English whatsoever and there are only a few words that are the same in Bangla and Nepali, she was unthwarted by the difficulties in communication. I was very grateful for her persistence.
The next day we did a hike to a mountain top lake. It was a long and difficult trek. We might have gotten lost on the way there if not for a friendly lone hiker we picked up. He knew Nepali. It was a 4 hour hike there and we had planned to take a jeep back, but rain the day before made the roads impassible. We ate a quick lunch, looked at the lake and headed back. Our friend decided to stay at the lake for the evening, and so Robin and I got really lost. Where is Lena when you need her?? So, Robin and I stumbled onto a local path that dropped us almost straight down the side of a mountain. It was so steep at one point that I had to sit down and slide, lest I fall over. But as it was turning out the whole trip was full of unplanned paths that led to outcome that were better than expected. This unplanned path led us not 200m from a beautiful waterfall. The next days we spent on shorter walks, reading, or drinking tea.
On the day we wanted to return to Darjeeling there was a strike so we spent one more day in Yuksom and then onto Darjeeling. It was a completely different city when it was open. There were stores open and it was cool. My favourite place was called....ummm oh dear I can't remember....but it served me up a porcine feast for breakfast. I ate the leftovers on the bus home for both dinner and supper.
Ok, so now I will try and remember what happened the rest of May through September...yikes.
May:
was grumpy...it was hot
June:
finished all three Bangla ag ed movies and debuted them!
My birthday party
went to spa for last time
last monthly meeting
Oh oh. We had our Visions and Values training and that went really well. I was very pleased.
had bollywood make-up happy fun farewell party for Iris, Ben, Robin, Joyce and I
July
farewell Bangladesh :-(
Iris came with me to Sri Lanka. We saw great sites like P&A, House of Fashions, Deep and Bella. Nina and Jonas were also visiting so we went to a cello concert Nina played in. We also took a bus to Trinco. There is no A/C bus to Trinco; its just an ordinary packed to the brim bus. Iris learned the hard way why I think Bangladesh inter-city buses are nice. Hee hee. It was bad when she got whacked in the head with a few bags. It was a pretty uneventful trip minus the fact that just outside of Kurunegala (grimace grimace) we saw a man that had hung himself. It was not good; the image is still in my brain. Other than that it was a good ride. The beach was fantastic!! We saw 10 other people at most. We body boarded on some great waves and ate lots of Sri Lankan beach fare. I also introduced Iris to arrak and coke. It was magical!!! After that we went back to Colombo and stayed with Dorothy and Prabo. Iris left and I stayed another week. During that time I went to Madampe; visited Shiloni and family, Navin, and Peshala; and read books. It was nice. It was sad to leave Sri Lanka again but it seems to be getting easier each time.
Next I went to the UK. Nigel picked me up from the airport and it spent time with the Rachel and Nigel. We visited a stately home (Bently House...where they filmed the British version of Pride and Prejudice!). One day Rachel and I went to a spa that was also nice, but mostly I just enjoyed hanging out with them. From there I took a train down passed London to a place called Sutton where my friends Jonas and Nina live. While there I got to visit with some other friends, Abigail and Ben and Shiyani. It was fun-tastic
Got home!!! Jill Dad and Janae met me at the airport and we took the South Shores line to South Bend and then drove home...it was a good way to get home, because we missed all the traffic. We got home at about 11:30pm and I got up and left the next morning at 4:30am to go to the state fair.
I worked at the state fair. It was fun! My sister also worked and so I just stayed with her and her family for those two weeks. I was also able to visit my friend Chris.
August:
Cattle training
moving Janelle, Chris and Sammy
grinding feed
job searching
applying for jobs
September
The FAIR!! It was district 10 show at Fulton County this year and that brings in some cool farmers that I like to converse with. I also got to show with my nephew Lane who is 2 ½. It was a bit harder that I thought. One hand was holding onto the calf the other to Lane. Man was my arm tired!!! It was a great fair.
Got hit on by scary carnie.
Now I am planning a trip to World Dairy Expo. My dad has never gone and our neighbours the Mellers asked if he and mom wanted to go. I think my dad feels bad for taking vacations, so I made the decision that he would go. So it will be me, my parents and our neighbours in a Caddy to Wisconsin. I'll also meet up with my friend Beth! I am pretty excited.
Currently I am at my friend Deb's in North Carolina. She was up in Ohio visiting her sister Michelle who had some problems in he cancer treatment and was in the hospital. I also went to visit Michelle with my sister Janelle and then stayed and came back to NC with Deb. Deb's brother is down in South Carolina for a race and will go back to Columbus at the end of the week and I will hitch a ride back with him.
Ok, consider yourself updated
Peace
jodi
posted by Jodi Crossgrove at
7:43 AM
1 Comments:
How about another update? Pretty please?
By
Tim and Heidi Huber, at 1:27 PM
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